


When it takes a village

by RainonyourBack



Series: Shaman King Shorts [2]
Category: Shaman King (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Gen, Secret Crush, Spa Treatments
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-17
Updated: 2019-03-17
Packaged: 2019-11-19 15:06:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18137336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RainonyourBack/pseuds/RainonyourBack
Summary: Tamao has a bad morning. The girls team up to make it a great day.





	When it takes a village

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TsukasaLiR](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TsukasaLiR/gifts).



Pirika was whistling as she sharpened her knife. It was a slow progress, as she did not want to accidentally damage her tools, but the house was quiet, and she had music going. It was a really nice afternoon, all things considered, until Tamao burst in crying.

Looking up towards her, Pirika lifted her knife from the water stone. “Need help?”

Tamao, puffy-eyed and sobbing, blinked at the sight and stayed silent. It took Pirika a few seconds to realize and put her knife down. “I meant, more, generally! Come now, what happened to you?”

Her tone was a bit sharper than she would have liked, but Tamao had seemed so distraught, and Pirika didn’t know how to deal with these things.

Tamao did not move, so Pirika did. She got to her feet and crossed the room, her hesitation barely visible as she moved to hug the younger girl. “It’s okay. Whatever happened, it’s okay, we’ll fix it. And it’ll help to talk.”

“It’s… it’s not…” Tamao struggled to talk in between her quieting sobs. “I’m sorry, I thought… The room would be empty, I just…” She half-raised her hand, as if to gesture towards the hallway she had just come out of, but managed nothing else.

Pirika knew she would need to change gears if she wanted answers.

“Is it my brother? I’ll go carve his ears, you have my word!”

“N-no!” Tamao looked appropriately appalled. “It’s not…”

“One of the other boys, then? Or the twins? I bet it’s the twins.”

Tamao said nothing. She held something against her, Pirika now realized. A small canvas, the size of her usual notebook. Disentangling her arms from Tamao, she gently tugged at the object until Tamao let go.

It was a portrait of one of the twins, though she couldn’t tell which; a rather obvious tear cut through his lips.

“What happened…?”

“Nothing,” Tamao mumbled, though Pirika very much doubted it was ‘nothing’. “I… I don’t even know how it happened. It just happened.”

Frowning, Pirika raised her eyes to meet her spirit’s, and sent him off upstairs. He would find the culprit, or at least Jeanne. Jeanne always managed to calm Tamao down. Jeanne was a safe choice.

It was only when she glanced at the kitchen clock that she realized Jeanne was probably still asleep. That explained why she hadn’t immediately zeroed in on her best friend crying. Or ‘best friend’. Pirika wasn’t sure, and wouldn’t pry.

“Hey, whatever happened, it’s okay. How about we put that away for now and find something to turn that frown upside-down, uh?”

Tamao was still crying. Pirika wasn’t sure what to do. “Is there someone I can hit to make you feel better?”

She was mostly joking. She could tell this wouldn’t be a matter of hitting an obnoxious culprit. The looks Tamao’s spirits gave her seemed to confirm that.

“Alright,” Pirika muttered. “Alright. Give me five minutes and I’ll make sure you forget what made you cry, uh?”

Tamao didn’t seem convinced, but she let Pirika sit her down. And Pirika started to formulate a plan.

* * *

Jun appeared just a few minutes after noon.

She was, as always, dazzling and resplendent. “Pyron decided to go for a walk, seeing as this was a girls-only invitation,” she explained to a curious Pirika while Tamao waited in the kitchen, growing more red-faced by the minute. Jeanne and Anna were already in the house, so having them come down and try to do something with ‘just us girls’ was… fine. Having Jun come over from where she was staying… this felt like it was too much.

“Hey, she said she was bored at home,” Jeanne gently said, squeezing her hand. “She’s happy to be here, doing whatever… Pirika decides we do.”

Anna nodded silently, sipping from her third cup of coffee.

“I just got a message from Marion,” Pirika chirped in, looking at her phone. “She and the other two are still on their ‘soul-searching trip’. She sent me winky face emojis so I assume it’s… not a literal soul search. Do you think we should ask…”

Her voice trailed off, and Jeanne waved it away.

“I think they just want to paint a lot of graffiti and yell a lot on some high rise. And scare all the occupants.”

“They’ve done that to Ren twice when he was in Tokyo,” Jun nodded. “I would ask them to cut it off, but they keep everyone on their toes, so it’s actually very nice of them.”

Jeanne did not look very convinced, but she dropped the topic.

“That means we’re all here!”

Anna nodded vaguely. “So, what did you have in mind?”

Pirika’s smile turned just a little tense. “Ah, well…”

“You didn’t prepare any food or activities?”

“Uh, I know Jeanne does mean cocktails…”

“That I do.” Jeanne was already looking around the kitchen. She had several dads who were really into drinking, and really into not making Marco mad, so she knew all about alcohol-free cocktails. “I could teach you, if you want.”

“Actually, my show will start soon.” Anna glanced at the living room. “I think we have leftover crackers in the pantry.”

Pirika looked momentarily panicked, and then forced on a smile. Tamao felt bad for her, especially as it seemed Jun’s fingers were itching for her phone. And, as the oldest of the group abandoned the idea to ‘not’ touch it, Pirika went for it.

“What a nice idea! We could all just… relax.”

“Is… is this okay?” Tamao felt queasy. “I know you are all very busy. Jun, Anna…”

“Oh, today is my day off,” Jun announced with a pleasant smile, still tapping away at her phone. “I’ve never had time to relax in front of that kind of show, so this will be fun.”

“There are at least two brand new episodes.” Anna’s tone was flat. “I would watch regardless.”

There was a ring at the door. Before Tamao could go get it, Jeanne was already on her feet. She came back with a lanky, dark-skinned man that Tamao was pretty sure she had never seen before. “Who…”

“Oh, I had a stylist appointment,” Jun cut in. “I just moved it to here and asked if he could take care of all of us instead of just me.”

Tamao frowned. “But wouldn’t that cost a lot of…”

“You have nothing to worry about.”

“Yes,” Anna added. “The Tao are definitely able to afford these things.”

“We are! Now, ladies, let’s find seats so that he can work his magic.”

Tamao watched Jun follow the others in the living room. She was on her phone, texting with one hand as she used the other to hand a large number of bills to the stylist. Somehow Tamao doubted that Jun was actually on a day ‘off’, but mentioning it was a little too… forward.

“I’m so excited! I’ve never been to a stylist before,” Pirika chirped, dragging her in. It just all seemed a little… too much, to Tamao. Like they were putting on a show. And she figured in some sense they were. But it was still fun to sit down in front of the TV, share crackers, and have someone manipulate their hands like they were all precious princesses. Which, they kind of were. Not that any of them really saw it that way, she figured, but then again Hao made genealogy and rank very complicated.

But she didn’t want to think about Hao yet. No, just laughing at whatever gag was on the TV, and explain the weird intricacies to Jun, who understood most things but still missed some, and Jeanne, whose grasp of Japanese was certainly the most fragile.

After a while, and just as a new episode came on, Anna shifted from her seat. “Oh, boring, “I’ve seen this one already. Well, I’ll be going into my room.”

“No, wait,” Tamao frowned. “Maybe I can… Change it somehow, you don’t have to…”

“We’re in the middle of our spa day,” Jun cut in. “Just let her go.”

“But…”

“It’s okay, Tamao,” Jeanne smiled, and grasped her hand. Tamao blushed at the contact, and even more because the careful polish Jun’s stylist had just applied to their hands had now smeared everywhere.

“Sorry…”

“No matter,” said Jun. “We’ll just get you two cleaned up and done again.”

“I quite like it.” Jeanne was looking at her hands and the red and purple streaks in her palms. She did not object to the stylist patting the polish away, however, and soon she and Tamao were settled again.

Being pampered like this was soothing, Tamao discovered. The sound of the TV droning on in the background was soothing. Jeanne and Pirika’s chatter was soothing.

Soon she was asleep. She had entirely forgotten, if only for a brief moment, about the painting disaster.

* * *

A few moments later, she felt a hand on her shoulder. “Hey, Tamao,” said a voice that she identified as Jeanne’s after a few moments. Blinking sleepily, she rose. “Where is everyone…?”

“The stylist was done, so Jun tipped him and he left. Jun herself said she had to go back to the office for some urgent job,” Jeanne explained, counting on her fingers. “Pirika is in the kitchen, she said something about carving a new ikupasui for her training. And the witch trio has yet to return from their trip.”

“I… I see.” Now it seemed obvious how everyone was. They had all halted their busy lives to… to do what, exactly? If it was to make her feel better, they had succeeded. Tamao felt slightly guilty about taking so much of their time, but it had been a really nice moment.

“Jeanne, I… thank you, very much, for what you did. I have to thank Pirika and the others, too… I was so, so upset… and now I am not.” It was hard to keep her voice level, to not stutter too much, but she wanted it to be as clear as possible. “Thank you…”

“You don’t have to worry about it.” Jeanne took her hands in hers, gently, and squeezed. “We were all happy to do it. And now, look, you’re all ready for date night!”

“D-date? What are you talking about?”

Jeanne made a face, as if she were focusing very hard on something. “Ah, I can’t wiggle my eyebrows yet. Chocolove is trying to teach me, but it’s… it’s still a work in progress. Well, you know what I mean.”

“No, I don’t!”

“Oh, and I have something else for you.” Quicksilver fast, Jeanne moved across the room and lifted something from the table.

“What? I can’t accept anything else, you’ve all done so much for me…”

“Nonsense. Here.”

“I can’t take that,” Tamao protested. “What is it?”

“It’s a surprise,” Jeanne insisted, pushing the rectangular package in Tamao’s hands. Leaning in, she whispered in her ear: “Anna worked really hard on it.”

Surprise wasn’t beginning to describe the emotions coursing through Tamao. Her first instinct was to hold the package tight, to keep it for later, but she knew that Jeanne liked for her to open her presents in front of her, and Jeanne was looking expectantly at her.

And Anna probably would quiz her later to know what Tamao thought of her…. work. So, Tamao started tugging at the knotted fabric that Jeanne had used to wrap her present.

It was her canvas, she realized. She was confused, at first, and then she turned it over.

The tear was gone. Well, probably not gone, but one couldn’t see it anymore. Someone – Anna, probably – had embroidered large purple flowers all over his mouth, as if plants were coming from within him. They were purple, and Tamao recognized the little buds as wisteria flowers.

A terrible flush overcame her. Anna had recognized which twin it was, apparently.

She must have been silent a little too long, for Jeanne frowned and tilted her head a little. “Tamao, are you alright?”

“Y-yes. I… Thank you. Thank you all. You can tell Anna that I… really love it.”

**Author's Note:**

> So this was also a discord request! Tsuki asked for a fluffy moment with all the girls, but I couldn't quite make them all fit in there. I figured the main gang would work. Hope you get the fuzzies!


End file.
